CBSE Notes Class 10 Geography Chapter 3 Water Resources
CBSE Notes Class 10 Geography Chapter 3 Water Resources
CBSE Notes Class 10 Geography Chapter 3 Water Resources
Water
• Water is a renewable resource.
• Three-fourth of the earth’s surface is covered with water.
• But only a small proportion of it accounts for freshwater, that can be put to use.
• 96.5 percent of the total volume of world’s water is estimated to exist as oceans and only 2.5 per cent as
freshwater.
• India receives nearly 4 percent of the global precipitation and ranks 133 in the world in terms of water
availability per person per annum.
• By 2025, it is predicted that large parts of India will join countries or regions having absolute water scarcity.
Water Scarcity and the Need for Water Conservation and Management
• The availability of water resources varies over space and time.
• Water scarcity is caused by over-exploitation, excessive use and unequal access to water among different
social groups.
• Water resources are being over-exploited to expand irrigated areas for dry-season agriculture.
• In some areas, water is sufficiently available to meet the needs of the people.
• But, those areas still suffer from water scarcity due to bad quality of water.
The need of the hour is to conserve and manage our water resources:
Dams
A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a reservoir,
lake or impoundment. “Dam” refers to the reservoir rather than the structure.
Uses of Dam:
• To impound rivers and rainwater that can be used later to irrigate agricultural fields.
• For electricity generation.
• Water supply for domestic and industrial uses.
• Flood control.
• Recreation, inland navigation and fish breeding.
• These projects cause of many new social movements like the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ and the ‘Tehri Dam
Andolan’ etc.
• This is due to the large-scale displacement of local communities.
• Inter-state water disputes are also becoming common with regard to sharing the costs and benefits of the
multi-purpose project.
Different methods have been adopted in different areas for Rain Water Harvesting:
• In hill and mountainous regions, people have built diversion channels like the ‘guls’ or ‘kuls’ of the Western
Himalayas for agriculture.
• “Rooftop rainwater harvesting” is commonly practised to store drinking water, particularly in Rajasthan.
• In the flood plains of Bengal, people developed inundation channels to irrigate their fields.
• In arid and semi-arid regions, agricultural fields were converted into rain-fed storage structures that allowed
the water to stand and moisten the soil such as ‘khadins’ in Jaisalmer and ‘Johads’ in other parts of
Rajasthan.
How Tankas works:
• The tankas are part of the well-developed rooftop rainwater harvesting system and are built inside the main
house or the courtyard.
• This is mainly practised in Rajasthan, particularly in Bikaner, Phalodi and Barmer areas for saving the
rainwater.
• Many houses have constructed underground rooms adjoining the ‘tanka’ to beat the summer heat as it would
keep the room cool.
• Tamil Nadu is the first state in India which has made rooftop rainwater harvesting structure compulsory to
all the houses across the state. There are legal provisions to punish the defaulters.